Location: AMERICA NORTH: USA: Connecticut (CT) Signed up: 08 Dec 2008 10:54 PM Members: Mike Bloomer - Guitar, Vocals, Tom (Turk) Nielsen - Bass, Vocals, Todd Milanese - Keys, Vocals, Frank Busse - Percussion, Vocals, Joe Lemieux - Drums Genre: Blues Influences: Tony Joe White,Jimi Hendrix, Muddy Waters, Ry Cooder, JJCale, Mark Easton, Jimi Pocious,Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie,Lowell George. Ernest Tubb Johnny Cash, Otis Rush, Lightnin' Slim Website:
Blues and Roots music with bite and a sense of humor. King Cake was formed in mid 2004 to help Mike record some original songs. The chemistry was so good that they decided to become an official band. Their repertoire consists of mostly Louisiana style Blues, classic Honky Tonk, Swamp Rock and catchy Originals with the odd Hendrix tune thrown in for good measure. They have produced two albums “Swamp Talk” released in 2006 and “Lipstick on a Pig” released in 2009.
Swamp Talk’s eleven songs range from blues to swamp pop. Highlights include the title track “Swamp Talk” a Creedence inspired ditty about the dangers of swamp fever, the retro “Trailer Park Lament”, the psycho-billy “Sheep in the Well”, and a psychedelisized version of the Tony Joe White classic “Rainy Night in Georgia”.
King Cake’s second CD “Lipstick on a Pig” was released in 2009. Musically eclectic, it runs the gamut from Rockabilly and Country to Swamp Rock, Blues and points in between. The lyrics have a strong socio-political component laced with a healthy dose of Mike’s trademark satirical humor and a dash of paranoia. The band really comes into its own on this album with very solid musicianship throughout and extended instrumentals on several songs.
The King Cake Story as told by Frog Boy: I started hanging out in rest stop bathrooms and met up with Joe while selling cigarette butts to desperate smokers. In 1979 this was not a good business to be in but, I was feeling kind of addled at that point in my life as I had been abducted by aliens and taken aboard a UFO for an unspecified amount of time during the previous October... Playing music together just seemed to be the logical thing to do. At some point later on we met up with Turk when we found ourselves suddenly under a bridge on an abandoned stretch of railroad tracks. He claims to be an alien and I'm inclined to believe him, though not totally convinced.... The three of us walked a few miles and pretty soon we came to a refrigerator box city where we met up with Todd who had played with Moon Mullican back in the '40s. Joe, Turk and I pooled our 46 cents and were able to get a box for the night. It turns out that many of the people in this cardboard community had come from missing or crashed airline flights. Black helicopters would occaisionally drop supplies.... but that is another story. Three days later finally made it out of the woods to the main road. Frank picked us up hitchhiking, or so we thought. Actually he had gotten out of the his seat while driving to change an 8-track tape in the deck that was under the back seat. The van had driven off onto the shoulder and come to a stop. By the time he realized what had happened we had all piled in. Grateful to have help changing tapes he agreed to give us a ride. About a hundred miles later we coasted into the parking lot of a seedy road house in east Texas on fumes and realized that we were broke with no money for gas or food. The owner desperate for a band because the band he had booked had cancelled hired us on the spot. And the rest is history.....
